2021 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 73
BY SENATOR BERNARD
A RESOLUTION
To commend and congratulate Doug Ireland for receiving the 2021 Distinguished Service
Award in Sports Journalism and on being inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of
Fame.
WHEREAS, it is with great pride that the citizens and Senate of Louisiana have
learned of the prestigious honor bestowed upon Doug Ireland for receiving the 2021
Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism and on his induction into the Louisiana
Sports Hall of Fame; and
WHEREAS, at the age of fourteen, Doug Ireland began writing as a sportswriter and
columnist at the weekly Jackson Independent and broadcasting for the local radio station
while playing two sports at Jonesboro-Hodge High School; and
WHEREAS, between 1981 and 1982 while an undergraduate at Northwestern State,
Doug Ireland worked as chief of the Shreveport Times Natchitoches Bureau coordinating
news coverage of an eight parish region along the Red River; and
WHEREAS, from 1982 to 1985, Doug worked as the assistant sports information
director at Southwestern Louisiana, now UL Lafayette, working with a mens basketball
program that made three straight post season tournament appearances; and
WHEREAS, from 1985 to 1986, Doug was the sports editor of the Natchitoches
Times; a 1986 Northwestern State University broadcast journalism graduate, he attended
graduate school at Northeast Louisiana, now UL Monroe, before joining the Alexandria
Town Talk sports staff in 1987, wherein in eighteen months at the Town Talk he covered both
NSU and LSU sports and won fifteen writing awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers'
Association; and
WHEREAS, in January 1989, Tynes Hildebrand, the athletic director of
Northwestern State, hired Doug Ireland which launched his thirty year run as the acclaimed,
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innovative sports information director at his alma mater, Northwestern State University; and
WHEREAS, armed with nearly a decade's worth of experience in newspapers and
as an assistant sports information director at UL Lafayette, Doug quickly put his stamp on
NSU athletics; and
WHEREAS, his talents, institutional knowledge, and relationships in sports circles
have been invaluable to Northwestern and has earned Doug a reputation as an icon in sports
media in Louisiana and far beyond, making him the recipient of numerous highly coveted
awards, including his 1992 football media guide which earned Best in the Nation honors in
the Football Championship Subdivision ranks from the Collegiate Sports Information
Directors of America; and
WHEREAS, Doug has received many other notable awards, including a 1997
historical event marking Demon great Joe Delaney's induction in the College Football Hall
of Fame, as second in a national CoSIDA contest; in 2008 Doug received the "Distinguished
American" award given by the Northwest Louisiana's McNaughton Chapter of the National
Football Federation; four years later he was named the Town Talk's CENLA Sportsman of
the Year; and in 2016 the Southland Conference tabbed him as the winner of the Louis
Bonnette Sports Media Award, named for the former McNeese sports information director;
and
WHEREAS, while serving at Northwestern State, Doug held a dual role as chairman
of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, housed in Natchitoches, where he managed all aspects
of the annual Hall of Fame selections and inductions from 1990-2010, and since has
continued to coordinate elections while collaborating with LSHOF Foundation leaders to
stage the Induction Celebration each year; and
WHEREAS, his volunteer efforts with the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame helped lead
to the development and construction of the $23 million Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and
Northeast Louisiana History Museum, which opened to international architectural acclaim
in June 2013; and
WHEREAS, Doug Ireland is a dedicated friend, colleague, an administrator in the
true sense of the word, an advocate, and a public servant in the finest sense, and is totally
involved in his community, state, and country on behalf of the betterment of his fellow man.
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THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby recognize the numerous accomplishments and extraordinary career of Doug
Ireland and commends and congratulates him for receiving the 2021 Distinguished Service
Award in Sports Journalism and on being inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Doug Ireland.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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